1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an apparatus and method for roasting coffee and other beans and nuts.
2. Description of Related Art
Among recent devices disclosed for roasting coffee beans and other food products, Lemme et al. U.S. Pat. No. 5,638,607 provides facile loading, unloading and cleaning of the roasting drum, which makes it especially useful for roasting small quantities of beans in the home. The '607 patent further provides an efficient chaff collector which may be accessed and cleaned without interfering with the roasting process.
However, it has been found that the roasting/cooling process for coffee beans is particularly sensitive to air flow. Although natural convection currents always exist to some extent, it has been found to be important to be able to control air flow throughout he roasting apparatus during the heating and cooling process. Prior art devices, including the '607 patent, have not fully addressed this issue. Furthermore, the path and location of chaff collection with respect to the roasting drum and cooling fan has been found to important to optimize the process.
Bearing in mind the problems and deficiencies of the prior art, it is therefore an object of the present invention to provide an apparatus and method in which air flow is particularly controlled to optimize the heating/cooling process while roasting coffee beans.
It is another object of the present invention to optimize the path and location of chaff collection in a roasting apparatus.
It is a further object of the present invention to achieve the aforementioned objects in an apparatus which may be used in the home environment to roast small (0.5-2 lb.) quantities of coffee beans or other food items.
Yet another object of the present invention is to maintain easy loading, unloading and cleaning of the roasting apparatus while improving these parameters.
Still other objects and advantages of the invention will in part be obvious and will in part be apparent from the specification.